As we pursue the Truth and seek to grow in our Catholic faith, we must understand how our natural ways of thinking and our automatic reactions can keep us from making spiritual progress. We often feel frustrated when we find ourselves repeatedly confessing the same sins. We wonder if we will ever overcome our most embedded sinful behaviors and reactions, and this can lead to discouragement. These pernicious behaviors are called vices. Let’s explore together the nature of vice, look at several capital vices and their opposing virtues, and consider steps to take that can help us overcome vice and strengthen our character through the practice of virtue.
The Nature of Vice
Vices are deep-seated dispositions of the mind that lead us to shun the good and indulge in evil. It is important to distinguish between a sin and a vice. A sin is a single offensive act against reason, truth, and right conscience while a vice is a bad habit that is contracted through repeated engagement in sin springing from the motive of self-love, often expressed as self-preservation or self-indulgence. This habit of vice can be likened to a well-worn path that diverts us from the path of virtue.
The Catholic Church identifies seven of these stubborn habits as capital sins or vices: pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. Considered to be the head and fount of many other vices and sins, these are named capital because they are the root cause from which other sins arise. To effectively combat sin and grow in the life of virtue, one must develop a thorough understanding of the vices and pray for the grace and discipline to overcome them.
Overcoming the Vices
The Catholic tradition teaches that vices can be conquered through the exercise of the opposite virtues. Each vice has a corresponding virtue that can counteract its negative influence. By prayerfully cultivating and practicing virtue, we can weaken the grip of vice and develop a more virtuous disposition. Let’s look at the capital vices and their corresponding virtues in more detail.
Pride and Humility
Pride is the first and foremost vice, the root of all other vices. It is the excessive love of self and the desire to be superior to others. It can be seen as taking personal credit for gifts or achievements and failing to see their origin as from God’s goodness and grace. It can cause one to deny his dependence on God and place a preference for one’s own will over God’s will. The habit of pride forms an attitude of superiority and may reflect a contempt for the views of others and even the authority of God. Ultimately pride separates us from God in that it is based on a lie, the lie of our own importance over others and most grievously, over God Himself. Prideful individuals do not earnestly seek to know the truth about who they are in relation to who God is.
Humility, on the other hand, is the virtue that counters pride. It is the recognition of our limitations and a sincere desire to know ourselves with accuracy, especially with regard to our Creator. A humble person sees things as they are and acknowledges that all the good in oneself, accomplishments, possessions, and successes, are gifts of God’s love and grace. Humility bears correction from others without anxiety or resentment, finding a way to learn from the correction and to use it for the good of one’s soul. Humility fosters gratitude toward God and an appreciation for the gifts He has given to us and others. Therefore, it guards against conceit, self-satisfaction, and a sense of superiority. It produces an abundance of virtues and it vanquishes pride.
Covetousness and Liberality
Covetousness, or greed, is the insatiable desire for material possessions and wealth. It pursues material goods without considering the good of another. It is an inordinate desire because it is not fitting to the true need of the individual, but is rooted in a selfish perception that one’s well-being is to be secured by one’s own ability to amass wealth or goods. It fosters a stinginess that does not trust in the provision of God.
Liberality, or generosity, is the virtue that helps us overcome this vice. It is the right use of resources that are recognized to have come to us through the hand of God. It is a willingness to share our material possessions with others and use them to promote the common good. Out of a sense of gratitude to God for His generosity toward us and the understanding that His provision is not limited, the practice of liberality makes us more generous and responsive to the needs of others and seeks to use personal resources to bless and raise up those who are less fortunate than we are. In this way liberality overthrows covetousness.
Lust and Chastity
Lust is chiefly concerned with the disordered desire for sexual pleasure having for its aim self-gratification. It can apply to unrestrained sexual interests and pursuits outside the bounds of marriage, or within marriage apart from its divinely intended purpose, which is mutual love and procreation. Lust objectifies another for one’s own pleasure. Lustful thoughts or acts begin with self-love rather than love of the other.
Chastity, as the opposing virtue, helps us to channel our sexual desires in a way that corresponds to God’s plan for human sexuality. A chaste relationship respects and protects human dignity and begins with love for the other as well as appropriate love of self, which constitutes careful watching over one’s soul. Because it begins with self-denial and seeks to operate out of love for God, it is a formidable force against lust.
Anger and Patience
Anger, sometimes referred to as wrath, is the vice that leads us to react with hostility and often uncontrolled rage. Saint Jerome says that anger is the door by which all vices enter the soul. And Saint Alphonsus Ligouri says “The passion of anger darkens the understanding, making a man behave like a beast and a madman.” Unchecked it causes resentment, blasphemy, acts of injustice, detraction, and scandal. One can be angry without sinning. For instance, we can be angry at sin in the world because it is an infinite offense against God. However, without prudence, anger runs away with us, and our zeal for the good becomes a source of destruction to ourselves and those around us. Moreover, maintaining prudence in our anger is very difficult and anger quickly takes the upper hand, breaking free of a prudential temperance and running into a rage. Therefore, it is better to overcome anger than try to hold onto it without sinning.
Patience, on the other hand, is the virtue that helps us maintain a peaceful heart of faith amid contradictions without losing our temper or despairing. It is the ability to wait for the Lord when being ridiculed, mistreated, or persecuted. The Sacred Scriptures are full of passages that urge us to wait upon the Lord and His timing to deliver us from our oppressors. The virtue of patience is what gives us strength for this. It is a quiet endurance free from resentment or retaliation. It allows for a gentle response that does not jump to conclusions or pass judgment but forgives and waits for an opportune time for reconciliation. Jesus values this virtue so highly that when explaining the coming persecutions to His disciples he encouraged them saying, ”In your patience you shall possess your souls.” (Luke 21:19)
Gluttony and Temperance
Gluttony is the excessive indulgence in food and drink. It is overeating or imbibing in drink far beyond what the body needs to maintain health or can process without intoxication. It also includes a taste for certain delicate and luxurious foods, especially when one’s state of life does not require this. Fr. John Hardon speaks of the United States as a gluttonous nation, not necessarily because of overeating but rather for the way we eat. He says we have replaced simple bread with pastries, and with food always at our fingertips, we are frequently snacking between meals, making food and drink an obsession of the mind and body.
Temperance, the virtue of moderation, aids in the battle against several vices. In the case of gluttony, temperance helps us to control our appetites and cultivate a healthy relationship with food and other pleasures. Temperance fosters a sense of simplicity in one’s needs and desires, recognizing that self-denial does not result in privation, but rather in the bearing of much fruit. Temperance regulates what we think we need to survive and flourish and keeps us rooted in the reality that right reason infused with God’s grace should always rule our bodily appetites. Fasting of foods or other pleasures helps develop temperance, which renders the vice of gluttony powerless.
Envy and Brotherly Love
Envy is the vice that arises from discontentment with the blessings and successes of others. It is fueled by a sense of unjust personal deprivation in the face of our neighbor’s material or spiritual prosperity. Envy is very evil in that it is the sin of the devil who envied the glory of God and His creation. “Through the devil’s envy, death entered the world.” (Wisdom 2:24). Envy gives rise to many other evil sins, which seek to tear down or detract from one’s neighbor.
Brotherly love, or Charity, is the virtue that enables us to rejoice in the good fortune of others and fosters a genuine love and concern for their well-being. It recognizes that all good gifts come from God. Therefore, brotherly love as a gift from God, rests in a deep sense of joy and peace over the success and good fortune of one’s neighbor and never rejoices over his misfortune. Praying for blessing for one’s neighbor and giving thanks to God in all things can subdue and conquer the vice of envy.
Sloth and Diligence
“A slothful man will not catch his prey, but the diligent man will get precious wealth.” (Prov 12:27)
Sloth, or spiritual laziness, is the vice that leads to indifference and neglect of our spiritual duties. Father John Hardon in his Modern Catholic Dictionary defines sloth as “the desire for ease, even at the expense of doing the known will of God. . . [It is] the unwillingness to exert oneself in the performance of duty, especially one’s duty to God, because of the sacrifice and the effort required.” Sloth is a sluggishness of soul that is directly opposed to the love of God because it shrinks in the face of the pain or discomfort that may be required to do God’s will or to grow in virtue.
Diligence is the virtue that motivates us to pursue our spiritual growth and faithfully fulfill our responsibilities to God and to our neighbor for the love of God. Our Lord requires diligence in our pursuit of Him. “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me” (Proverbs 8:17). We do well to vanquish a tendency to sloth by applying this diligence first thing in the morning. Saint Peter Julian Eymard said, “In order to succeed in prayer, it should be done when we first awaken, when our whole being is calm and recollected. We need to make our mediation before anything else.”
And here is the cry of Saint Anselm of Canterbury regarding sloth and its remedy:
“Awake, my soul, awake! show thy spirit, arouse thy senses, shake off the sluggishness of that deadly heaviness that is upon thee, begin to take care for thy salvation. Let the idleness of vain imaginations be put to flight, let go of sloth, hold fast to diligence. Be instant in holy meditations, cleave to the good things which are of God: leaving that which is temporal, give heed to that which is eternal. . . .”
The Struggle Against Vices
The process of overcoming vices is not quick or easy. Due to our fallen nature, habits of vice are easier to form than those of virtue. Breaking free from the grip of vices requires intentional effort, reliance on divine grace, and perseverance in the struggle. Here are a few steps to help us in this battle.
- Recognize the Vices: The first step in overcoming vices is to recognize and acknowledge their presence in our lives. This requires honest self-reflection and examination of our thoughts, actions, and motives. It’s often helpful to write down the insights received in prayer.
- Cultivate Virtuous Habits: To loosen the grip of vice in our lives, we must cultivate virtuous habits. This involves actively practicing the opposing virtues and making conscious choices that align with the values and principles of the Gospel.
- Seek Divine Grace: Overcoming vice is not merely a matter of willpower. We need the assistance of divine grace to transform our hearts and minds. Through prayer, the sacraments, and a deepening relationship with God, we can receive the grace necessary to bring our wills in conformity with His and overcome our vices.
- Go to Confession: The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a powerful assistance in overcoming vice. Each time we confess our sins and the priest absolves us, we are given special graces to overcome the sins we have confessed.
- Seek Accountability and Support: It can be helpful to seek out trusted friends, mentors, or spiritual directors for accountability, to keep us on the right path. They can provide guidance and encouragement to help us make progress.
- Persevere and Be Patient: Overcoming our vices is a lifelong process. It is important to be gentle with ourselves, recognizing that change takes time and effort. However, as Saint Paul said to Corinthians, we must run in such a way as to gain the prize. The prize is Heaven – and only the virtuous win Heaven. So we must not become discouraged but rather, persist in the struggle against vice by practicing virtue and relying on the grace of God, Who will see our good efforts and bless them.
Conclusion
Understanding and overcoming the vices is indispensable to the spiritual life. And knowing where to begin can be confusing. Our Catholic faith in its magisterial teaching assures us that we can begin with any vice and as we gain ground with the corresponding virtue, we will receive more insight regarding other vices in our lives. Moreover, as we grow in one virtue, vanquishing its vice, we are helped immensely to overcome other vices. Therefore, by engaging persistently in the battle through prayer and God’s grace, we will progress quickly in our spiritual quest for holiness.
Let us pray for the grace to honestly consider and recognize which vice we struggle with the most and ask God for the strength to practice its opposing virtue. There will be successes and failures and many opportunities for confession, but with a sure intent on our part, God will grant us all that we need to break free from the vices that hinder our growth. And God will not abandon us on this long and sometimes difficult road. Remember, it is He “at work in [us] both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13) It is He, Himself stirring up the desire within us to conquer vice and grow in virtue. And “if God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31)
